ANKARA
Turkey’s high judicial body suspended Tuesday four high-profile public prosecutors pending an investigation into their role in the December 2013 anti-graft probe.
The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors or the HSYK said that prosecutors Zekeriya Oz, Celal Kara, Muammer Akkas and Mehmet Yuzgec would remain suspended until the investigation was complete.
Addressing the media, head of the judicial body’s second chamber, Mehmet Yilmaz said the prosecutors would have harmed the reputation and influence of judiciary.
The possible dismissal of the prosecutors would be decided on the basis of the investigation.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, who is also the head of the high judicial body, approved an inquiry into the December anti-graft probe that saw detentions and arrests of high-profile bureaucrats, sons of three cabinet ministers and businessmen close to the government.
The government had denounced the probe as a "dirty plot" constructed by the Gulen movement's "parallel state."
Since then, hundreds of police officers have been detained and judicial members reshuffled on charges of eavesdropping on Turkey's top officials, disclosing highly-sensitive information, forming and belonging to an organization to commit crime, violating privacy, illegally seizing personal information and forgery of official documents.
